Wednesday, 24 August 2016

I can't believe it has been well over a month since I last posted, but we have been very busy!
My sister came to visit for a couple of weeks and we had a ball. She drove me all round town to get to places I never normally go now I can no longer see to drive. We did a lot of window shopping, but i don not really need 'clutter' any more - just need to get rid of lots of it!

We also went to tourist spots with Bill, the sorts of places you never quite get around to visiting unless you have visitors - or we don't anyway. We drove up the Pioneer Valley to Eungella, a really beautiful national park where platypuses are readily visible - but I could not manage to get a photo, sorry. I did take a photo of all these turtles sunning themselves on the dead branch - there had been a platypus near by till I focussed my camera and then of course it vanished.

Unfortunately the day was a bit overcast so the view from the top looking down the valley was not as spectacular as usual, but still lovely

These unusual sculptures were alongside the river walk, detailing some of the flora and fauna.

Broken River at Eungella is a fast flowing river and is VERY cvold, but some visitors still manage to swim in it!

We had a lovely lunch at the local Pub, this is the rainforest growing right up the the boundary fence.

On the way home we visited Teemburra Creek Dam, this is the view from t he boat ramp. The dam provides irrigation for local cane farmers, but also is a very popular recreational fishing area.

The sun had come out and this another view looking back down the Valley, one I never tire of.

We visited several of our beaches. When our children were little and Barb visited, we used to go to a different beach nearly every day, and this was one of our favourites, Cape Hillsborough - the photo of the beach is below and a lovely wattle growing near the picnic area above.

The tide goes out a long way and the beach goes on forever. You can't see it in the photo but it often has a golden sheen on it from all the iron pyrites ( can't spell it) on the sand - often called fool's gold - and very pretty.

There is a wonderful boardwalk built through the mangroves growing at Cape Hillsborough. One day I will manage to get there when the tide is very high, it always seems to be out when we take visitors!

The textures and shapes of the mangroves are lovely

Above is a very old mangrove and below is a Melaleuca (paperbark)

The bark of these trees comes of in large sheets of papery fibre which is ften used to line hanging baskets, also half a century ago people used to make wonderful bark pictures using it. That seems to be totally out of fashion now.

This is part of the wonderful picnic area there.

Then we visited Halliday Bay and could only recognise the beach, everything else had changed dramatically in the thirty odd years since we had last been there. It seems sill when the beach is only a thirty minute trip out of Mackay, but there it is.

In the summer we have very dangerous box jelly fish in the sea so stinger enclosures are built. This photo was taken at low tide and it seems impossible that the water would come in far enough to make the sea worthwhile going into, but it really does. The mesh is very small, but I think you still need to say well inside the fence to make sure the tentacle can't reach you - the tentacles are almost invisible and can be nearly three feet long!

This is a lovely old she-oak or casuarina growing on the edge of the beach. They are fascinating trees and make a wonderful whispering sound with the breeze blowing through their branches.

This is yet another beach. much closer in to town. There are plans to build a special lookout tower from the vantage point where I took this photo. We can see the whales from here on their annual migration - or others can. They were too far out for me.

We have had another trip out to my home town of Goondiwindi for another family funeral - a close friend of the cousin who died a few months ago. he also had cancer and was nearly 80 so this was more a celebration of his life and a great family reunion. Bill and Iflew to Brisbane, collecting my sister there - who had only flown home a day before, then we drove out in a hire car. I sat in the back seat and tried to take photos while we were travelling at 100 km /hr - not always very successful! These last two photos show you the cultivated country on the Darling Downs where at last they have had some rain.

We really had a wonderful trip with lots of laughs and recollections of past days with all the family. We have all decide we need to do the trip again sometime when we can stay a few more days and it is not for a funeral!
Now I think life will be a bit quieter at home for a few weeks anyway. Summer seems to have arrived today, but we are told there will be another burst of cold weather next week. This has been a very strange winter, far too warm, I hope it does not mean we will have a very hot summer.
Now I had better make a cup of coffee for Bill.